Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Trip Report

[CornellMans]

Amazing photography Cornell.

Thank you very much Mike Nel

[CornellMans]

photos are amazing!

Great report too, an amazing trip!

Thank you Apocalypse

[CornellMans]

Great report so far.
Not brief, but the detail is interesting.
I see you took a solo vehicle for the trip (a Ford nogal), but then were worried about people with no masks out in the open?

LOL, Thank you Manny, you saw that the Ford climbed a mountain (a little against its owners will) that claimed the scalp of a Disco and a Patrol... I guess they aren't built Ford tough...

[KurtG]

Cornell, I am very jealous. Jealous of your experience and the fact that you spent time in the Kgalagadi, one of the best places we have ever visited (twice).

But I am certainly not jealous of the corrugated roads .

Great report!

[CornellMans]

Day 5 : 15 March 2021 : Thunder and lightning! Very very frightening!!

Travel:
Day Drive :
Twee Rivieren -> Leeudril 4x4 Route -> Houmoed -> Kamqua -> Twee Rivieren

131km

Sunset Game Drive :
Twee Rivieren -> Melkvlei -> Twee Rivieren (Cut short due to very bad weather)

75 km

We booked the Leeudril 4x4 Route since this was the only 4x4 sandy route that you could drive without having to stay over at a specific place. Also because I have been looking forward to it ever since we booked this trip. We also decided that we would have a shortened day trip and come back to camp earlier so that we could join the sunset game drive.

We have heard quite a few people claiming that they saw leopard along the Nossob Road and cheetah with 3 cubs late the previous afternoon about 5km from the TR gate on the Nossob road. We were desperate to find these.

We packed all the gear, some eats and drinks and set off looking for spots....

We got onto the Leeudril route expecting some 4x4 action, but because of the rain the previous night and the morning being relatively cool, the sand was pretty hard and posed no problems for the Everest (not that it would have anyway). In the middle of the route we stopped at the Leeudril water hole for a quick coffee and rusks. We saw a lot of relatively fresh leopard spoor, but no leopard.

When we completed the Leeudril Route (See link for Youtube video for some footage of the Leeudril route) with not much to see, we turned right onto the Mata-Mata road and decided that we will check out all the water holes en route to Mata-Mata. At one the boreholes we happened across a small group of lions enjoying the cool breeze.

Satisfied with having more than enough lion pictures, we stopped at Kamqua for a quick comfort break and a snack, and met a very chatty Cape crow (see youtube video).

We continued back to Twee Rivieren to have a decent snack of peanut butter and syrup sarmies and recharge camera batteries before we need to leave for the sunset game drive.

We saw some springbokkies, a very lazy lioness in the road and an abundance of birds op prey.

We arrived back at camp, booked the sunset drive and they warned us that in case the weather gets worse, it might be cancelled. At that stage they weather was building, but we figured that it was not building fast enough to be a threat. We get more ice for the cooler and grab a quick snack. Arrived at the pickup point and was relieved that we were the 3 people that booked the drive, so naturally we loaded the cooler and then the cameras. We would find out in 2 hours time why we were the only ones to book this drive.

We got a few good photographs with the little golden light there was.

Just a few minutes into the game drive, we were stopped and the kind gentle who gave the ranger the location where the cheetah with the cubs were hanging out. We drove there immediately. Meanwhile, the weather was building fast an closing around us. But we were focused on finding spots. We arrived at the location and found a few jackal nervously looking at a direction of a lone green bush on a dune. We zoomed in and then saw the three (dotted) musketeers, and mommy had provided a nice big springbok ram for dinner...

At this stage the light was fading fast and we go the spotlights out. We drove a little further north as we started to see some lighting and thunder getting closer. We managed to see an African wild cat on the hunt. We turned around with the first fat drops falling. As we drove back past the cheetah cubs, we could see mommy had arrived as well.

And then all hell broke loose... It was bucketing down, lighting struck literally meters away from us. The ranger called the end of the drive and we stuffed the cameras with expensive hired lenses in our jackets. Lucky for my I was wearing my trusty 4x4AG jacket which was completely waterproof. The other guys... not so much. With us driving into the wind, but at least with canvas roof over our head we were relatively out of the rain. The poor ranger was getting soaked through and through. Every time lighting struck close to us, het just shouted "Try not to touch any metal parts!"

We arrive at the drop off point and sprinted for the Everest with cameras still tucked away in our jackets and carrying the cooler box with our "medical supplies". Get the car started and go as quick as we can for the tents. Once we got there, we left everything in the car and checked to make sure there are no leaks in the tents. The the torrential rain started, and Thor was doing he's best to hit us.

We realized that we set up camp in a slight depression that was very quickly turning into a dam, as the runoff from the rain from the whole campsite was gathering in front of our tents. With the rain absolutely pour, strong gusts of wind we inevitably need to hammer in some tent pegs that came lose from the wind. Lighting is like a disco and the thunder is threating to pop your eardrums, enough to cure the worse constipation.

By this time the water is already 5cm deep around the tent, and about to spill over, and then as suddenly as my wife's mood change, the rain stopped and the lighting moved off. The water started to seep away into the red Kalahari sand...

So we lit a fire to braai some wors. You will have to watch the Youtube video for the light show though...

Some water got onto the multiplug and chargers in the small tent, but was superficial. Out site's power tripped, but we got it going again. We had a good quick dinner. I took a quick shower to get rid of the mud and then went to bed.

The mission the next day would be to head straight for the cheetahs and hopefully get some good pics.

This video includes footage of the Leeudril route as well as the rain storm : https://youtu.be/lX3VpVbU5og

... To be continued ...

[CornellMans]

Cornell, I am very jealous. Jealous of your experience and the fact that you spent time in the Kgalagadi, one of the best places we have ever visited (twice).

But I am certainly not jealous of the corrugated roads .

Great report!

Thank you Kurt. The roads were actually in very good shape accept for the Long and Short Dune roads. They had the tractor out tending to the main roads every day while we were there.

[Chris Stoffel]

Cornell, please allow me to say, if you don't mind, you really know how to use a camera!
Very very nice photos!

[Paul#25]

Thanks for the great report and photos so far. One day I'm hopefully going to do a similar trip. Eagerly awaiting the next installment Cornell.

[CornellMans]

Day 6 : 16 March 2021 : The Grand Finale

Travel:
Day Drive :
Twee Rivieren -> Melkvlei -> Twee Rivieren
101km

The mission for the day was to head out to where we saw the cheetah with her cubs to get a few nice photos for our last day in the park. We got up nice and early and were treated with a stunning red Kalahari sunrise over puddles for the previous night's storm...

Not wanting to waste too much time, we drove on to the cheetahs.

With more and more cars stopping to take pictures, the cheetah got a bit skittish and decided to move the kill to the back of the bush.

While we were driving around, we came across the morning game drive vehicle, and the ranger informed us of a leopard sighting. We rushed over and found the leopard resting on a dune. We decided to stick with it for a while to see what it got up to... and boy were we rewarded!

As the leopard got up and descended the dune, we noted a jackal sniffing around, oblivious of the leopard. The leopard also noticed the jackal, and the stalk was on...

The leopard kept up the stalk, with the jackal getting a little jittery but still not sure what is going on. The leopard got up to about 5 paces from the jackal before pouncing.

The following sequence of photographs happened in a few seconds, before I lost them from view due to my shooting angle...

The jackal, literally running for its life, was losing ground to the leopard rapidly and then did its best Cheslin Kolbe impression by making a 90 degree turn to the left, running next to the row of cars and at the last moment darting under a car to get away from the leopard.

The leopard abandoned the chase and then walked up the dune to lie down for a few minutes, before getting up and disappearing from view

Adrenalin pumping, we decided to drive north again to check on the cheetahs, but they were not to been seen. We continued up to Melkvlei for brunch.

The original plan was to get back to camp and pack up most of the camping gear including the trailer tent. I would then sleep in a small tent and have a quick pack up the next morning in order to start the trip home as soon as the gates opened.
But with the staff warning us of predictions of another heavy storm that evening, we decided that it would be better to pack up and check out that afternoon and look for a place to sleep over in Upington. This will then allow us to get up at 03:30 the next morning and leave by 04:00 and get home about 4 hours earlier than originally planned.
We phoned around and found a place to overnight at Kalahari Monate Lodge. With the clouds building steadily, and the sun baking we finished up the packing, hooked up the trailer, said goodbye to all the people we got to know at camp, filled up the Everest, pumped the wheels and checked out.

We left Twee Rivieren at about 16:15 with roughly 240 km to go.

We arrived at the lodge at 19:26, connected the 2 fridge/freezers to the mains and lit a fire. We filled up on beef fillet, pasta salad and pork ribs. Afterwards we sat at the fire until about 00:00, looking at the lighting storm towards Kgalagadi. We retired to bed, setting our alarms for 03:30... or so we thought...

Some extra action caught on video here : https://youtu.be/uhCFZHAGT98

... To be continued ...

[CornellMans]

Day 7 : 17 March 2021 : Country roads... take me home

Travel:
Upington -> Olifantshoek -> Kathu -> Kuruman -> Vryburg -> Schweizer-Reneke -> Wolmaranstad -> Klerksdorp -> Potchefstroom -> Centurion
848km

We all missed our alarms and only left Kalahari Monate Lodge at about 06:00. We drive in light rain pretty much all the way to Schweizer-Reneke. Traveling through the notorious Kuruman and Vryburg was a breeze as I decided to rather drive parallel to the main road in town. Rain started again from about Wolmaranstad all the way to Potchestroom where we dropped Jaco off. We filed up at Potchestroom and then drove all the way to Centurion in constant light rain. With the constant joking and revisiting memories from the days at varsity, the drive went by pretty quick.

Stopping at home, I was welcomed by my wife and kids jumping into my arms and hugging me as if they haven't seen me for years.

It was an epic trip, but it was good to be home...

The stats
Traveled 3454.2km, 424.17l of diesel, R6880.53 mostly with a heavily laden vehicle and camp trailer, with an overall average fuel consumption of 8.14km/l
Spend 64.1 hours in the Everest

7500+ Pictures and video taken, amounts to more than 200Gb of data.


The Conclusion

Mata-Mata Campsite:
Very nice camp ground and the meerkats and ground squirrels running around makes for good entertainment. The ablution facilities were in good nick and always clean. The staff in general at the offices, shop and fuel pumps were extremely friendly and efficient. The shop has a good variety of stuff if you need, but beware : The liquor costs more than double the price you would pay in town. Ice was also quite expensive. Fuel is about R1 per liter more expensive than outside the park, be we had not problem with availability.

The only thing I can fault the camp on, is that the camp sites are not marked very clearly. Lot's of people seemingly set up over campsite boundaries in order to get some shade. The campers were very friendly and helpful. Their is also no SA cell network reception, but if you are willing to carry the cost, you can always roam on the Namibian network which has a tower nearby.

Twee Rivieren Campsite:
Nice camp split between sites with electricity and site without. I looks like they recently laid out extra campsites with electricity, but haven't done much to level it. Here the sited are also not market out and it takes a while to find a place to set up if you arrive later in the day. The shop here is very well stocked with a variety of stuff; even some off the shelf medicine. There is ok cell coverage here, but Vodacom has much better service that MTN at Twee Rivieren.

Leeudril 4x4 Route:
This was fun, but not a real challenge when we did it, due to the rain the previous evening. I think it could get tricky on a warm dry day though. One thing to look out for : There are about 4 or 5 dunes that I imagine that you would need to storm on a dry day in order to get enough momentum to get over. Two or three of these have a tight turn just before you start the climb and you would already have built up some good speed when you reach the turn. There are steel poles all-round the outside of these bends, which would cause a fair bit of damage to your vehicle of you don't make the turn, and you do not have a lot of room to maneuver. Other than that, if your tyre pressure is as advised, you should not have any problems.

The roads:
The roads were in really good condition. We found the grater or tractor working the Mata-Mata and Nossob road every day we travelled on it. Only the Long and short dune roads are fairly corrugated, but was really a non-issue if you deflated to 1.5 bar as prescribed.

Photography:
Renting a 600mm lens was well worth the money. It just allowed for opportunities to get good close-ups where it would not be otherwise possible. In general the objects you will be photographing will be a fair bit away from you, but keep a shorter lens handy for the awesome landscape photography opportunities. It would be even better to have two bodies, one with 600mm and the other with a shorter lens on.
Don't skip a photography opportunity because you think you can do it the next day. Our first evening at Mata-Mata was a cloudless night with no moon. We wanted to photograph the milky way and star trails, but were too tired and thought we would do it the next evening. All the following evening were very cloudy or raining.
Backup your pictures daily, and have extra batteries for your gear; especially if you are going to take video clips every now and then.

I would visit Kgalagadi again in a heartbeat. It is a photographer's paradise and every day is an adventure. We were extremely lucky with the sightings we had, but in general the fellow visitors are eager to share locations and information on where they had which sightings. Take enough water. Just relax.

Hopefully we can set visit there again soon...

[CornellMans]

Here is the link to the playlist for all the videos on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... nH5BXqKiUn

[Paul#25]

Thanks for all the effort you have put into this report. I've really enjoyed reading it as well as the great photos.
Hopefully we'll be able to do a similar trip in the future and I'll use reports like this to help with the planning.

[CornellMans]

Thanks for all the effort you have put into this report. I've really enjoyed reading it as well as the great photos.
Hopefully we'll be able to do a similar trip in the future and I'll use reports like this to help with the planning.

Thank you for the kind words Paul

[LesseW]

Excellent trip report, which I think many members will benefit from.

[AndreasR]

Been a bit busy so only read the report today. Well done on the report and the photos. Good information for all future visitors. Thanks.